And so we reflect on another remarkable Hong Kong racing season. When Sparkling Dragon and Derek Leung crossed the line in the final race of the season at Happy Valley on Wednesday night, there was a palpable sense of pride and gratitude.
The Club is proud to have staged 835 races across 88 meetings, attracting record turnover of HK$136 billion, while offering world-class racing over 10 and a half months while operating smoothly in the face of significant all-too-familiar challenges.
Coronavirus remains an on-going threat to the health and prosperity of Hong Kong and it is why the Club will remain vigilant into the future to protect all participants, including trainers, jockeys, owners, staff and our customers.
The Club’s achievement to maintain the ‘Racing Bubble’ has not been without significant sacrifice on behalf of our participants, notably social distancing, regular COVID-19 testing, isolation – in some cases from family – and an admirable discipline to follow biosecurity protocols.
All of these behaviours served to bolster the Club’s purpose – the betterment of our society – and that would have been impossible without the commitment of all of those involved. I would like to acknowledge and thank all our trainers, jockeys and stable staff – in both Hong Kong and Conghua – as well as the Club’s Racing Division employees along with a host of supporting departments for the dedication which has enabled us to provide racing entertainment to continue for our loyal customers in Hong Kong and overseas.
The Club’s ‘Racing Bubble’ accomplishments are well known but they bear further reflection eventhough the curtain has already dropped on this extraordinary season.
On Tuesday night, we paid tribute to our human and equine stars and, unsurprisingly, all of them flourished at the elite level – including during the flagship LONGINES Hong Kong International Raceday and FWD Champions Day meetings.
While Japan excelled with Normcore (LONGINES Hong Kong Cup under Zac Purton), Danon Smash (LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint under Ryan Moore) and Loves Only You (FWD QEII Cup under Vincent Ho), undoubtedly the brightest star of the season was Golden Sixty.
Francis Lui’s effortto keep this remarkable horse unbeaten for the second consecutive season – across 14 races – with a winning streaking which features victories in the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile and the FWD Champions Mile is truly outstanding.
Resultingly, Golden Sixty’s standing as Hong Kong Horse of the Year, as well as victories in the Champion Miler and Champion Middle-distance Horse categories – and being voted the Most Popular Horse for the second consecutive year – was never in question. He is a superstar, the perfect ‘bubble horse.’
We also acknowledge Joao Moreira’s feat of claiming a fourth jockeys’ championship with 157 wins along with Caspar Fownes’ effort to collect a fourth trainers’ title with 79 wins and Vincent’s accomplishment to fend off Jerry Chau (58) for the Tony Cruz Award for best home-grown jockey with 61 wins for the season.
Conghua continued to play a huge role in Hong Kong with 156 individual winners of 190 races trained from our Mainland base, while seasonal turnover surged to HK$136 billion – a figure which allowed the Club to provide over HK$13.7 billion in the form of racing betting duty to the Government for the betterment of society for millions of people in Hong Kong.
The Club’s effort to achieve record turnover has immediate and also long-term benefits for the Hong Kong community with the provision of tax and also charity support. This has allowed us to meet our purpose: the betterment of our society.
The 13.6 percent increase in tax contribution from last season is clearly significant and helps keep Hong Kong’s overall tax rate relatively low, which is another example of Hong Kong horseracing’s far-reaching contribution to the community at large.
For our many customers who have again shown great support of the Club’s simulcasts of selected overseas feature races, the good news is that we have 12 G1 race meetings simulcast from abroad before Hong Kong racing resumes in September.
Looking forward, it is clear more challenges await. We will be required to demonstrate the same agility and resilience that has been integral to our success over the past year as we offer record seasonal prizemoney in 2021/22 of HK$1.46 billion with the four G1s on LONGINES HKIR reaching a new high of HK$100 million in prize money combined. To underscore the lucrative nature of Hong Kong racing, we will next season stage the most valuable G1s on turf over 1200m, 1400m, 1600m and 2000m.
It is time now to again show our appreciation for our wonderful gallopers and horsemen, and also to the thousands of people who have again ensured the success of Hong Kong racing in 2020/21.
It is my fervent hope that a rise in the vaccination rate and with good health overall that we can enjoy a different and more engaging experience next season, when we hope to welcome back many, many more of our customers to the track.
On a personal note, it has again been an honour to lead the Club through these trying times. Collectively, we are extremely proud of our achievements. I wish you all a safe and joyful summer and look forward to what next season has in store for us when we will again operate in the spirit of “One Club, One Team, One Vision.”
Comment
